Shelley Doll

Late last year, while flipping through the December issue of Australian Homespun (No. 103 Vol 12.12), Little Lady fell in love with the Shelley Doll designed by Mary-Anne Hogan. So we made her together over the next week or so, and by we I do mean both of us. Little Lady started by picking out all the fabrics, threads and buttons.

Here's headless Shelley. The above pic shows what the magazine Shelley looks like. Little Lady made a few adjustments as you'll see. She loved being so hands on. I actually remodelled Shelley's hands to include thumbs according to Little Lady's instructions - "mummy, she HAS to have proper hands!" and Little Lady sat on my lap at the sewing machine while sewing Shelley's body parts and helped by taking out pins and pressing buttons on my machine. 

Head in place and add a little lippy... I used Jo Sonja's Matte Fluid Acrylics in Carbon Black for her eyes and nose, and Brown Madder for her lips - colours I had on hand from the Bunnies Project.
 

I cut up an old pair of my jeans for Shelleys pants. All the patches and embellishments were sewn on with embroidery floss and an obvious running stitch. My favourite part is the button and bead detail on the botton of Shelley's jeans.

Little Lady actually sewed all these on herself with me just directing where to stab the button or fabric whenever she wasn't sure.

Not bad for a 3 year old, eh? Yep, a 3 year old!! I'm a very proud mummy.

Pants on. Must protect Shelley's modesty.

The Hair. An indication of things to come when Little Lady gets older? The round buttons at the bottom of her shirt are made of shell.



Shelley's kerchief. I sewed everything this time. Little Lady told me her fingers needed a rest because "is she finished yet? It's taking FOREVER!!"

Her shoes were a real pain as I didn't want to use felt (didn't have any) and I wanted them to be completely washable so no cardboard inserts. I used some template plastic and sandwiched it between 2 pieces of purple homespun, using ladder stitch to sew the fabric pieces together while enclosing the plastic. I tucked the ends of the shoe strap in as I went making her shoes fit pretty snuggly so they won't fall off while she's being carried around.

Little Lady absolutely loves her. I thought I'd have to wait years to begin doing things like this with my baby girl but she surprised me with how patient and careful she was with her sewing. I can't wait for the next time she wants me to make something with her, not just for her.